o'clock

[ uh-klok ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adverb

of, by, or according to the clock (used in specifying the hour of the day):
It is now 4 o'clock.
according to a method for indicating relative position whereby a plane in space is considered to be numbered as a clock's face, with 12 o'clock considered as directly ahead in horizontal position or straight up in vertical position.

o'clock

/ əˈklɒk /

used after a number from one to twelve to indicate the hour of the day or night
used after a number to indicate direction or position relative to the observer, twelve o'clock being directly ahead or overhead and other positions being obtained by comparisons with a clock face

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Origin of o'clock¹

First recorded in 1710–20; from o', a reduced form of of; o' + clock ¹( def )

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Origin of o'clock¹

C18: abbreviation for of the clock

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Hitchcock arrives about ten o'clock, reads his mail, and answers the few phone calls he gets.

At eight o'clock the team filed out to warm up, Sawchuck leading, wide-legged in his goalie pads, and Howe last.

But he don't eat breakfast till he gets up for the races, maybe two o'clock in the afternoon.

I told him to get his taxi driver to come back at five o'clock in the morning and do you know what?

As Not the Nine o'Clock News, a spiritual successor to Python, once put it: “These men died for us – frequently.”

It was close upon twelve o'clock, and the "Rooms" had been open to the public for two hours.

At six o'clock I felt once more the welcome motion of a Railroad car, and at eight was in Venice.

It was now about eight o'clock at night, and the captain ordered supper immediately, thinking I had already fasted too long.

Seven o'clock was the hour fixed for the marriage: it would be twilight then, and dinner over.

Her hope persisted until half-past nine: it then began to fade, and, at ten o'clock, was extinct.

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